I'm trying to get my microphone to function as my microphone in skype. I don't need to record anything, but I need this to function in real time for a radio interview I'm conducting in a few weeks.
Current Gear: I have a PC with pro tools 8 LE, and my interface is an AVID Eleven Rack; soundcard for my pc is an ASUS Xonar Essence. I have the microphone plugged into the microphone input on my Eleven Rack, 48v switched on, PAD switched off, gain is at 12 oclock. I have tried running from the SPDIF on the eleven rack to the soundcard, and also from the OUTPUT to Amp (both 1 and 2) to the line in on the soundcard. When I open my audio input on Skype both ASUS line in/ASUS SPDIF show up as options, but once I click them there is no signal from the microphone. I have tried running pro tools while doing this, with a track record enabled for my microphone, and still nothing. I have played with changing the output of the pro tools session to Line Out and Digital Out without any change.

. . . . When I open my audio input on Skype both ASUS line in/ASUS SPDIF show up as options. . .

Load the correct Eleven Rack driver for whatever version of Windows you are using. Then check in your "control panel" under "device manager" and under "Sound, video and game controllers" to make sure that Windows recognizes the Eleven Rack.

If it does, you should be able to select the Eleven Rack for your Skype audio device.

Connecting the Eleven Rack's SPDIF "out" to the Asus soundcard SPDIF "in" will also require the correct driver and is more involved. You would have to set the Eleven Rack's clock to the Asus soundcard. The driver control applet or the 11R itself can be configured to do that.

I updated the latest drivers for eleven rack and Skype. Still no luck with the microphone working in Skype (it lists the eleven rack as mic input options just like before, but no audio signal comes through when I select line in or any of the other eleven rack options); I also tried setting the microphone to the eleven rack line in from control panel like the other user suggested.
This was tested without pro tools being open; after installing the latest 11R driver pro tools is no longer recognizing the eleven rack hardware and won't open... I think this is because I have Pro Tools LE8. Luckily I backed up my system settings before installing the driver, so I think I have to revert it to that backed up'd state to get pro tools functioning again.

For recording I love the eleven rack, but it seems like a monumental pain in the ass to use it for anything outside of pro tools After installing these drivers I'm beginning to think you just can't use a microphone connected to the 11R for anything but PT

I'm actually having trouble restoring the back up, so now Pro tools won't open as it doesn't recognize the eleven rack hardware anymore... I tried rolling back my driver on the 11rack and that was grayed out. Did they seriously make an update driver for an AVID interface that makes that hardware no longer capable of running with PT8?

You seem confused here and I don't think the earlier replies have gotten you past that. Most importantly the Eleven Rack is *not* a stand alone mixer. It does not do what you seem to be assuming it can. You need to read the User Guide. There is no mixer, so you can't just take say a Mic input or any other input and get it out of an analog or digital output on the Eleven Rack.

The only internal stand alone processing it can do is send one input you choose though the guitar rig. You can sent the Mic as rig input and then get a rig processed signal on main out, amp1/2 and digital out. But that is a guitar rig processed signal, you can make the rig gain clean so the Mic kinda sounds OK but this is a guitar processor not a Mic preamp so you would be trying to screw a screw in with the wrong size hammer.

But the Eleven Rack when connected to your computer does provide multiple inputs. Input 1 is the Mic Input, called "Mic Inout"

Quote:

Originally Posted by needled39

it lists the eleven rack as mic input options just like before, but no audio signal comes through when I select line in or any of the other eleven rack options

What exactly lists what and what exactly are you selecting? Start posting screenshots showing exactly what you are looking at.

The Mic input on the Eleven Rack is Mic In, not Line In. Why are you trying to select Line In or anything else besides Mic In? The inputs of the Eleven Rack, in order are:

What exact make/model Mic are you using. Have you checked phantom power with a multimeter? Do you know for sure that Mic and cable work OK?

What version of Windows are you running?

Put aside Pro Tools 8 it does nothing for you here.

If you want to use the Eleven Rack as the overall sound device (why would you not in this case?). Start by getting the most basic stuff to work. Get the Eleven Rack working as your Windows system audio output device with sound coming out of the monitors/headphones connected to the Eleven Rack. Can you see the Eleven Rack Mic Input in the Windows Sound settings? Set the Windows Sound recording input to that and try using Windows Sound recorder/Voice recorder to record that. Now try with Skype.

. . . now Pro tools won't open as it doesn't recognize the eleven rack hardware anymore. . . Did they seriously make an update driver for an AVID interface that makes that hardware no longer capable of running with PT8?

Quote:

Originally Posted by needled39

. . . I updated the latest drivers for eleven rack and Skype. Still no luck with the microphone working in Skype. . .

. . . after installing the latest 11R driver pro tools is no longer recognizing the eleven rack hardware and won't open... I think this is because I have Pro Tools LE8. . . .

The price of progress: many Pro Tools users welcomed the opportunity to be able to use third party interfaces. This "enhancement" coincided with the release of Pro Tools 9.

You mentioned you were not concerned with recording, so the 11R drivers were mentioned.

This is a link on how to set up SKYPE's audio, microphone and speaker devices.

Thanks for the responses guys; I was able to successfully uninstall the latest Eleven Rack driver, then install an earlier driver that has Pro Tools working again. Peace has been restored to the recording galaxy.

@Darryl: Good idea on the screen shots, I'm sure in text only what I'm saying isn't clear. I do actually run the Eleven Rack as my main audio output for my computer

I do also use Pro Tools, so it is important that I keep that functioning (which unfortunately means I can't run the latest Eleven Rack driver; although that didn't seem to fix my issue anyways).

When I open the Skype "Audio Settings" tab this is what it shows for Microphones:

So there is no "Mic/input" option like there is in pro tools. When I select the line in (Eleven Rack) I don't get any signal (I realize in the screen shot I took it's on my sound card, but I tested it on the Eleven Rack).

My Microphone is an MXL 880; I record regularly with it so yes Mic and Cable are good to go

I have the Eleven Rack Line in set as my recording device:
It shows that I have an audio signal from that menu, but No signal in skype (when I select Line in (4 Eleven Rack). I tried the 'test call' feature just to make sure and confirmed no signal coming through.)... Weird that it's showing a signal as my computers recording device but not skype's.

@panamajack
I posted that yesterday in a moment of frustration, apologies for that. I'll check out the link. thanks

It looks like you are picking Rig Output (R) (4) as your sound recording input. But you should use sound/voice recorder to verify exactly what that is on the Eleven Rack, play with it, connect stuff up to those inputs, send a signal through the guitar rig, etc. and confirm. You only have 8 possible inputs check for sure which ones are showing up in the Windows control panel.

As I already tried to explain Rig Output will not work (well it could if you routed your mic through the guitar rig... but that is likely a bad idea for multiple reasons). What other options show up when you scroll down the list?

Forget anything about Skype and Pro Tools and just keep trying the most simple tests like I already suggested.... but if the Sound Control Panel does not give you access to the Mic Input on the Eleven Rack then you are likely dead in the water to start with and just wasting your time here.